After an accidental meeting between Jamsedji N. Tata and Swami Vivekananda on a ship in 1893 where they discussed Tata's plan of bringing the steel industry to India, Tata wrote to Vivekananda five years later "I trust, you remember me as a fellow-traveller on your voyage from Japan to Chicago. I very much recall at this moment your views on the growth of the ascetic spirit in India... I recall these ideas in connection with my scheme of Research Institute of Science for India, of which you have doubtless heard or read."[8][9]

Impressed by Vivekananda's views on science and leadership abilities, Tata wanted him to guide his campaign. Vivekananda endorsed the project with enthusiasm, and Tata, with the aim of advancing the scientific capabilities of the country, constituted a Provisional Committee to prepare a plan for setting up of an Institute of research and higher education. The committee presented a draft proposal to Lord Curzon on 31 December 1898.[10] Subsequently, Sir William Ramsay, a Nobel Laureate, was called on to propose a suitable place for such an institution who suggested Bangalore as the best location.

The Nizam of Hyderabad- H.E.H Mir Osman Ali Khan too played a vital role in the upliftment of the Institute. The Nizam made the biggest contribution in terms of money which amounted to 3 lakh Rupees over a period of 31 years.[11]

The constitution of the Institute was approved by the Viceroy, Lord Minto, and the necessary Vesting Order to enable it to function was signed on 27 May 1909.[14] Early in 1911, the Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone of the Institute, and on 24 July, the first batch of students were admitted to the Departments of General and Applied Chemistry under Norman Rudolf and Electro-Technology under Alferd Hay. Within two months, the Department of Organic Chemistry was opened. In 1958 the institute was granted the deemed university status by the UGC.[15]

At the time of the inception of IISc in 1909, Morris Travers, Sir William Ramsay's co-worker in the discovery of the noble gases, became its first Director. For Travers, this was a natural continuation of his work on the Institute, since he had played a role in its founding. The first Indian Director was the Nobel Laureate Sir C.V. Raman. Raman was the Indian Science-based Nobel Laureate.[14] The current Director is Anurag Kumar.

The Institute was the first to introduce Masters programs in Engineering. It has also started integrated doctoral programs in Biological, Chemical, Physical and Mathematical Sciences for natural science graduates.[10]

The campus houses more than 40 departments marked by routes such as the Gulmohar Marg, the Mahogany Marg, the Badami Marg, the Tala Marg, the Ashoka Marg, the Nilgiri Marg, the Silver Oak Marg, the Amra Marg and the Arjuna Marg. The Institute is fully residential and is spread over 400 acres of land in the heart of Bengaluru city.[17] The campus features six canteens (cafeterias), a gymkhana (gymnasium and sports complex), a football ground and a cricket ground, four dining messes (halls), one multi cuisine restaurant, nine men's and five women's hostels (dormitories), an air strip, a library, two shopping centers and residences of the faculty members and other staff, besides other amenities.

The IISc campus harbors both exotic and indigenous plant species with about 110 species of woody plants.[18] The roads on the campus are named after the dominant avenue tree species.[19]

The architecture of the main building, which today houses the administration and the prestigious Faculty Hall, is classical in style, fronted by a grey, handsome tower. In front of it stands the work of Gilbert Bayes, a noble monument erected in the memory of J. N. Tata. At its feet is an inscription that serves to remind future generations of the generosity of Jamshedji Tata and the persistence with which he worked for the welfare of India. The building, as one of the prominent landmarks of Bengaluru, was designed by C. F. Stevens and Company of Bombay in 1912–13.[20]

The buildings for the metallurgy and aerospace departments were designed by the German architect Otto Königsberger in 1940.[21]

A second campus is in Challakere, on 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) lot of land. It currently holds the Talent Development Centre, established in 2011.[22]

For academic purposes, departments and centres in the Institute are broadly assigned to either the Science Faculty or the Engineering Faculty.[33] For administrative purposes (such as faculty recruitment, assessment and promotion), departments and centres are classified into six divisions, each headed by a Chairperson. Each department or centre is administered by a Chairperson.

Research students constitute more than 70% of the students on the campus. Ph.D. degrees offered in 40 different disciplines.[34] Research programs leading to doctoral degrees are the main thrust in many departments.[14] The program has a limited amount of course work, essentially to prepare the student to carry out the research, but the main emphasis is on the thesis work.[35][36][37] The annual intake of research students is approximately 250 with several candidates sponsored from educational institutions and industries.[38] The research students constitute the largest group (50%) on the campus.[38]

The Integrated Ph.D. program is designed to offer opportunities to 3-year B.Sc. graduates for pursuing advanced research in areas of biological, chemical, mathematical, and physical Sciences, leading to the Ph.D. degree.

Masters degrees offered by the institute are classified into two categories: degrees by coursework (M.Tech., M.Mgt., and M.Des.) and degrees by research [M.Tech. (research)].

The two-year M.Tech. program is available in almost all engineering departments. Due to stiff competition, one needs a high percentile in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering for admission into this program. A unique feature of the programs at the institute is the credit system which allows students to tailor the courses to suit their aptitude, interest and research requirements. Most M.Tech. programs have a set of hard core courses specified as an essential requirement whereas students can take rest of the credits from many courses available in their parent or other departments and also do a dissertation work on the topic of their choice. These courses attract highly motivated accomplished students, in addition to several sponsored candidates from R&D labs/industries and also from educational institutions under the Quality Improvement Program.

The Department of Management Studies, one of the oldest management schools in the country (established in 1948), offers a Master of Management program exclusively for engineering graduates. The Center for Product Design and Manufacturing[39] offers the Master of Design (M.Des.) course. Started in 1996, the M.Des. program is a two-year, full-time postgraduate program.

An undergraduate program was conceived, for students who had completed Class XII, during the Centenary Celebrations in 2009. The first batch of students was admitted in 2011. The program offers a four-year Bachelor of Science (Research) and a five-year integrated Master of Science course in six disciplines: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Material Science, Mathematics, and Physics. The course aims at exposing the students to the inter-disciplinary nature in which scientific research is done in many upcoming fields, and comes at a time when the importance of science education at the undergraduate level is emphasised and several incentives are provided by the Government to promote the same.[40][41]

This program makes the graduates eligible to apply for post-graduate degree programs in foreign universities, many of which may require 16 years of education before entering a post-graduate degree program. In India, Bachelor of Science (Research) graduates are eligible to apply for CSIR-NET, a national level examination for securing admission into Ph.D. program into various universities including IISc.

Apart from an intensive training in sciences, courses in Engineering and Humanities are prescribed to empower the student with technical skills required for a scientist, to appreciate the social context as well as constraints of doing science.[42] The science and engineering courses are offered by the respective departments at the Institute; the humanities course is offered by the Centre for Contemporary Studies (CCS) at IISc in collaboration with the Centre for Study of Culture and Society (CSCS), Bangalore.

Students enrolled in the program take courses in Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Humanities, Mathematics, and Physics for the first three semesters which are common and compulsory to all. In the next 4 semesters, they choose a major discipline of study and take a handful of other science courses and a stipulated number of engineering and humanities courses. The last semester is devoted to a final project. Besides, all the students, either KVPY or DST-Inspire scholars, spend a couple of months in various research institutes across the country exploring a topic or a research problem of their interest.[43][44]

Admission to research PhD programmes of the Institute is based on Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE), career records, and technical interviews in the campus.[45] Candidates are called for interviews based on the entrance test of the Institute or GATE or National Eligibility Test. For course oriented degrees – ME and M.Tech. – the admission is through GATE conducted every year. For research-oriented degree – M.Tech.(Research)—the admission is through the GATE.[46] For Master of Management (M.Mgt), which has a ceiling strength of only 25 seats across India, the admission is through Common Admission Test. Admission to MDes is through the GATE or the Common Entrance Examination for Design. Bachelor of Science graduates can get admission to integrated PhD programs at IISc through the Joint Admission Test for M.Sc.(IIT JAM).
IISc does not conduct any entrance test for providing admissions admission. It only organizes aptitude test & interview for PG & research courses. The institution offers UG, PG, Research & PhD courses in various fields. Admission into these courses is done through JEE Main, JEE Advanced, NEET, CEED, JAM, KVPY and other examinations.[47]

Apart from the main library, the Institute also has independent departmental libraries. The library moved into the present premises in January 1965, built out of grants provided by University Grants Commission (UGC), in commemoration of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Institute in 1959. In 1995, the library was renamed as "J. R. D. Tata Memorial Library". The National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) has recognised this library as Regional Center for Mathematics for the south region and continued to award a special grant towards subscription of Journals in Mathematics.

The annual budget of the library is over Rs. 100 million[48] (almost US$2,500,000) of which subscription towards periodicals alone is about Rs. 90 million. The library currently receives over 1,734 periodical titles, of which 1381 are subscribed, while the remaining titles are received as gratis or on an exchange basis. About 600 titles are accessible through the library subscription. In addition, over 10,000 journals are accessible online, thanks to INDEST subscription. The total holdings of the library exceed 411,000 documents.

Apart from functioning as a central computing facility of IISc, the SERC is engaged in education and research programs in areas relating to supercomputer development and application. The Centre is also involved in several sponsored research projects in collaboration with several high-profile government and private agencies.

Pravega is the annual science, technology and cultural festival of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Started in 2013 by the undergraduates of IISc, the fest is usually held on the fourth weekend of January.[187]Vijyoshi, an annual national science camp for secondary school and undergraduate students, is hosted by IISc.[188]

IISc also has active sports teams, major ones being in cricket, football, badminton and volleyball. They participate each year in the IISM (inter IISER sports meet) and a number of other tournaments and events.[189]